Any way to embed a search box on the desktop?

[Dochappy]

I'm looking for a way to place a small search box on my desktop(I want it so it's there but not taking up a lot of the screen) and I want it so what ever I search  in that box is limited to one directory. 

Basically I want to be able to type in say an artist name or song name in the search box and either that song opens up in a  window or automatically plays in my default player.

I'm running Winxp, is there a small app that can help me achieve this ?

[cmpm]

http://www.glarysoft.com/products/utilities/quick-search/download/

Maybe what you could use.
Can be configured for folders and/or file types.

No auto play, just double click the find.

[Dochappy]

thanks for the suggestion. Installed it and tried it for a bit but noticed really high cpu consumption while running it and when searching it bogs my system down as well. Thank you for the link though I'll keep it installed just in case I can't find anything else

[cmpm]

The high cpu use is from the program indexing the targets.
The default ones initially, then any more you would add.
After it's done indexing, the cpu usage will drop.

So if you let it run a bit and at startup, letting it stay running,
which is one of the options, it will have the files or folders indexed.
And ready for faster results.

Just using it for a few minutes will not show it's true speed.

It's not made for the whole computer,
that would take too long to index,
just specific, smaller sets of folders or files.

[Carol Haynes]

I'm sure with a little tweaking FARR could do what you want.

Everything is a blisteringly fast search tool (but only on file names not contents) provided you are using NTFS. You can minimise to the tray and it opens with a single click or you can define a keyboard shortcut. You can limit it to any folder you like (but as far as I know you would have to specify the path in the search box).

A free tool that will do what you want is Windows Search - let it show its taskbar search box and drag it anywhere you like on the screen. It won't launch music but you can search contents. You can also configure the indexing to only index folders you want to search.

Never used it myself but I bet Google Desktop would do the job too.

[cmpm]

Yes, Carol, I was thinking of those as well.
But I thought they may be too much for the specific task stated.
I think 'Everything' would be fine if you remember the variables to type in.

I would bet one of the mediaplayers would be perfect for the request.
Since it's just an artist name or song name to choose.
Not sure which one could perform through a search box like that.
Some kind of minimal view with an index or playlist to choose from.
Never thought of it I guess...till now.

[Target]

how would you handle an artist - start playing at the first entry, prompt for an action, display a list?

and what formats?

[Carol Haynes]

I tried FARR (used to have it installed but for some reason hadn't used it for ages) and that works fine for finding artists and song titles and is pretty damn minimal (even portable if you want).

[cmpm]

Cool! I haven't used FARR in a while myself.
For music I just right click the folder I want to play and hit play with mpc or vlc usually.
Of course someone with a lot more songs then me might want something with more specifics.

[Carol Haynes]

Anyone know how to use FARR to search file property data as well as file names?

[Curt]

I'm looking for a way to place a small search box on my desktop ... etcetera

You can do it with Listary > Favorite Folders > find as you type

www.listary.com/ they have both a free and a $20 version.

[Dochappy]

thanks for the help everyone I appreciate it. tried each suggestion and right now Everything seems like the app for me